Karen

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Karen

Legislators are evaluated on their efficiency in developing laws that better the lives of their constituents by ensuring their security and livelihoods. Due to the nature of their work, however, most legislators are detached from the communities they represent as they spend most of their time in the capital where legislative meetings are held. This level of detachment, coupled with the dynamics of modern life, reduces legislators’ ability to develop effective policies for their areas of representation. This has led them to look for creative and innovative ways to increase feedback from their constituents by enhancing communication channels to encourage maximum participation in policy formulation. Some areas also have unique needs that are overlooked and left unaddressed when passing common policies and require special legislations and amendments to ensure their inclusion. This also goes a long way in enhancing existing laws by ensuring they are comprehensive like the Chelsea Law passed in California in 2012 that ensured the safety of minors by strengthening existing sex offender laws.

The best way to encourage public legislative participation is to make the rather dull process fun, and some legislators have resorted to creating competitions to elicit public participation and ensure the quality of the feedback collected. Offering prizes makes people competitive resulting in high participation that results in the collection of more comprehensive thoroughly researched and well-written proposals improving service delivery. Public participation also ensures the development of neutral policies that have a more national outlook and effect, by limiting the power that partisan groups have over the process. Legislators should maintain offices in their constituencies to facilitate the collection of contributions from their voters. They should also ensure that their staff in these offices offers high levels of customer service to ensure that voters are comfortable delivering their views and feedback on how to make their communities better.